AACT NewPlayFest
Discover the future of theatre with AACT’s NewPlayFest – where emerging voices take center stage, and winning plays are brought to life by theatres across the nation. Join us in celebrating new works that captivate audiences and inspire future productions
AACT NewPlayFest: Unmatched Performance
Cultivating new plays for audiences to enjoy
NewPlayFest
Participation
Why NewPlayFest?
There’s an abundance of great scripts out there, especially from unpublished playwrights. But how do theatres find the time to sift through them and choose the ones that will resonate with their communities? Many theatres host new play contests, but it’s rare that these winning scripts are actually produced and shared with others. For a script to be published and reach future audiences, it needs to create a buzz through live performances.
That’s where AACT’s NewPlayFest steps in—a national new play festival spanning two years. Unlike AACTFest, productions remain local. Theatres across the country produce the winning scripts within their own communities, while AACT promotes the festival nationwide. The winning plays are then published in an anthology by Dramatic Publishing Company, giving them a path to future audiences.
Selecting the Winners
Finalist scripts are reviewed by the Producing Theatres, which select the winning plays to be brought to life on stage.
The Productions
AACT partners with Producing Theatres to craft a festival calendar and create a comprehensive promotional plan—including social media outreach—to boost attendance and encourage other theatres to consider these new works for their own seasons. Each production helps shape the future of the play, providing invaluable feedback for the playwright on what works, what doesn’t, and potential areas for revision.
Play Anthologies
The winning plays are published in an anthology by Dramatic Publishing Company, which also highlights the Producing Community Theatre and cast for the production. Click here for the current list of anthologies.
the Jack K. Ayre and Frank Ayre Lee Theatre Foundation
AACT NewPlayFest is made possible in part by a grant from the Jack K. Ayre and Frank Ayre Lee Theatre Foundation.
Jack K. Ayre celebrated his 90th birthday before passing away in December 2011. At his birthday party, he sang with a barbershop quartet – one of his favorite activities – and celebrated with his cousin and lifelong friend, Frank Ayre Lee.
Though as adults they lived on opposite sides of the country, the cousins kept in touch through letters that displayed a love for the written word and an irreverent sense of humor. Jack had participated in theatre productions at Drew University in New Jersey and at a community theatre in Connecticut in his younger years, and continued that interest when he moved to California. Mr. Lee was also an avid aficionado of theatre, and had dabbled in playwriting, adapting Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book for a children’s theatre production, and penning McSteg, a tongue-in-cheek discourse, ribbing his cousin Jack and based on a scene in Shakespeare’s MacBeth.
The Jack K. Ayre and Frank Ayre Lee Theatre Foundation was created by the children of Frank Ayre Lee as a tribute to their father, who passed away in August 2012, and a legacy for the creative endeavors of Jack, who was an advertising executive and public relations director. The family is pleased to honor both men through a lasting legacy promoting new works for theatre through AACT NewPlayFest.
Jack K. Ayre
Frank Ayre Lee